The Valorization of Household Work: The Light and Shadows of Italian Law

In Italian law, housework is - in the context of the matrimonial family and in the civil union between persons of the same sex - a real duty of both partners, but the methods and times for fulfilling this obligation are left to their decisions. In order to obtain a full exploitation of housework, it is possible to choose the property regime of the legal community. By virtue of this property regime, in fact, all purchases made even separately by each spouse and savings not consumed when the status of legal communion ceases are jointly owned. In the case of divorce, the judge may award a maintenance allowance to the ex-spouse who has contributed with housework to the formation of the common or personal assets of the other spouse. The same thing is possible in case of dissolution of the civil union. Even cohabitants who have registered cohabitation with the Municipality can stipulate an agreement that provides for legal community to regulate their relationships. For them, the convention is fundamental, since the law on unmarried couples cohabitation provides minimum safeguards in the event of the dissolution of the relationship in favor of the weak partner. Household work, on the other hand, is highly valued by law in the family business, which occurs when the individual entrepreneur is facilitated, in his/her business, by the housework of the spouse or relatives (up to the third degree or relative in law within the second degree). In this case, in fact, the collaborator has the right both to be retained and to participate in the profits and increases of the firm and to vote for the most important decisions; he/she also has a right of first refusal in the event of the sale of the firm.